Coin collector and register



Deg. 11, 1951 FQ N 2,578,226

COIN COLLECTOR AND REGISTER Filed Feb. 19, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet l [N V EN TOR.

Dec. 11, 1951 J. F. CAVANAGH COIN COLLECTOR AND REGISTER Filed Feb. 19, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 72 (Ilg'VENTOR.

Dec. 11, 1951 J, CAVANAGH 2,578,226

COIN COLLECTOR AND REGISTER Filed Feb. 19, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 @QQ 74 Q v Patented Dec. 11, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COIN COLLECTOR AND REGISTER John F. Cavanagh, Providence, R. I., assignor to Max L. Grant, Providence, R. 1.

Application February 19, 1946, Serial No. 648,660

2 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to coin collecting and registering apparatus, and has particular reference to a display type collector suitable for bus and trolley use.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a collector of the hopper type, into which any number of fare coins of a common denominator may be dropped, the fares being automatically registered and the coins or tokens displayed for inspection.

Another object of the invention is to provide a collector of the hopper type which displays the deposited coins and then selectively registers the fares and substantially immediately displays the registered coins, whereby the bus driver or conductor readily associates the deposited coins with the passengers.

Still another object is to provide a collector of the type described, which registers coins deposited in a hopper and displays each registered coin individually.

A further object of the invention is to provide a collector of the hopper type which passes coins to be registered and displayed, and automatically by-passes the coins to a locked coin box whenever the operating mechanism jams or becomes inoperative for any reason.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a collector of the hopper type which registers deposited coins, and passes the registered coins to collecting cylinders wherein they are stacked for convenient removal.

Another object of the invention is to provide a coin collector and register which cannot be jammed by bent or warped coins, and which unfailingly registers and displays such coins and thin coins.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifiically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of an illustrative coin collecting and registering apparatus embodying the invention, the coin receiver being shown as broken away;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 4 is a central vertical section through Fig. 2, the coin receiver being removed;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of the contact connections for the coin register mechanism;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic lay-out of the wiring connections to the transfer motor and the bypass solenoid;

Fig. 7 is a detail section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a perspective detail of the by-pass slide;

Fig. 9 is a detail section on the line 99 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 10 is a detail view on the line l0l0 of Fig. 4,;

Fig. 11 is a section on the line H-il of Fig. 1, parts being broken away and other parts omitted; and

Fig. 12 is a section on the line l2|2 of Fig. 2.

It has been found desirable to provide a coin collector and register which is particularly suitable for bus and trolley service, and for other uses where speed of collection without loss of identification of deposited coins with passengers or the like is essential. I have devised an apparatus of the hopper type, into which any number of coins of the same denomination, or fare tokens, may be dropped, thus speeding up the deposits, the coins being displayed as deposited to the bus driver or conductor and then being registered and immediately displayed in separated sequence, whereby time heretofore lost in collecting is sharply reduced. I have further provided for the receiving of the registered and displayed coins in stacking chambers or cylinders, from which they are readily removed as needed. Preferably, the parts are so designed that no jamming can occur if bent, warped or thin coins are deposited, such coins being registered and displayed with the same facility as normal coins.

However, since the operating mechanism may nevertheless become jammed, or otherwise inoperative,,I have provided a by-pass arrangement whereby the deposited coins are automatically transferred to an auxiliary coin receiving chamber, preferably of the locked type, from which they may be removed when the apparatus is dismantled for repair or servicing.

Referring to the drawings, the novel collector and register it includes a hopper ll mounted on a frame lit in which the display and registering mechanism are housed, the hopper I! having a conical deposit portion 23, see Fig. i,

which is provided with a number of coin spaces or openings 14 and a central elevation [5, whereby coins deposited in the hopper fall through 3 the coin spaces M to impact a conical funnel l6 having a central outlet opening l1.

Positioned directly beneath the outlet opening I1 is a by-pass slide |8, see Fig. 8, provided with an inclined bailie plate IQ for directing the coins into a transfer chamber 20. The transfer chamber 25 has a cylindrical forward cover 2| of transparent material, preferably glass, and a base formed of an inclined circular transfer plate 22, preferably of metal, which is rotatably mounted as hereinafter described, and is provided with a coin transfer recess 23, see Fig. 9, formed with a radial forward edge 24 and an arcuate rear edge 25, the thickness of the plate 22 being slightly less than the thickness of the coin to be collected.

A support plate 25, see Figs. 4 and 10, is mounted in the frame i 2 in close adjacency to and below the transfer plate 22, whereby a coin which has been received in the transfer recess 23 is moved over the support plate to its uppermost position, whereupon the coin can drop through an opening 27 to seat on an inclined slide 28 mounted in the frame l2 in spaced alignment with the support and transfer plates.

The coin moved by the transfer plate is engaged by registering mechanism before it drops through the opening 21, this mechanism including a micro-switch 29 which is mounted in the transfer chamber 25, see Fig. 9, and includes two spaced contacts 35, 3|, the latter contact having a feeler finger 32 extending therefrom which is positioned in the path of movement of the transfer recess 23, whereby the lifting of the feeler finger 32 by a coin in process of being transferred closes the contacts 30, 3| and registers the coin, as hereinafter described.

Each transferred coin is thus registered during its movement to the inclined slide 28, which has side guides 33, 34, see Fig. 1, to feed the coin to an aligned forward section 35 of expanded width. The forward section 35 is hinged to the slide 28, as indicated at 35, and has a bottom ledge 31 against which the coin rests; the ledge 31 normally presses against a transparent cover 38 which is a continuation of and is preferably integral with the transfer cover 2|, see Fig. 4, the spacing between the cover 38 and the forward section 35 being sufficient to accommodate the thickness of only one coin, whereby the coins displayed on the section 35 are all edge to edge. The section 35 is normally kept in alignment with the cover 38 by a spring pressed plunger 35, see Fig. 41, mounted in a plunger housing 45 secured to the side of the frame l2, and a push rod 4| is secured to the section 35 to extend outwardly through a suit able opening 42 in the cover 38 and is provided with a manually engageable button 43, to press the section 35 downwardly in order to release the coins displayed thereon to an outlet recess 44. A bracket 45 is mounted on the frame l2 just below the outlet recess 44, to slidingly removably receive a coin container 45, the bracket 45 having an elongated opening 41, see Fig. 12, and the coin receiver having a series of coin cylinders 43, whereby the released coins are stacked in the cylinders for selected removal through a spring pressed slotted slide bottom closure 49 of usual type, see Fig. 2.

It is thus clear that a number of coins may be dropped into the hopper these coins are deposited into the transfer chamber 25, where they are fully visible, and are then transferred to the display section 35, where they are displayed in edge to edge relation, the coins be-' ing individually registered during their passage to the display section 35, and being manually released from the display section into the coin collector cylinders.

The operating mechanism The registering mechanism is diagrammatically shown in Fig. 5, and includes the microswitch 25 and a second micro-switch 50 in series therewith, and consisting of two normally spaced contacts 5|, 52, the contact 5| being fixed and the contact 52 movable to be periodically actuated by a cam 53 for engaging the fixed contact. A register 54 is mounted in series with the switches 29 and 50 through wiring 55.

The cam 53 is rotated as hereinafter described to actuate the contact 52 in timed relation to the rotation of the transfer plate 22, so that the contacts 5|, 52 are closed when the coin transfer recess 23 is directly under the feeler finger 32 of the switch 23, as shown in Fig. 9. If no coin is in the transfer recess 23 the feeler finger 32 drops into the recess and the contacts 35, 3| open and there is therefore no closing of the circuit through the register 54; if a coin is seated in the transfer recess the contacts 3E! and 3i remain engaged at the same interval that contacts 5|, 52 are also engaged by the cam 53, and the circuit is completed to actuate the coin register 54.

The operating mechanism is driven by an electric motor 55a, see Fig. 4, which has a worm shaft 55 engaging a worm gear 5'5 splined to a rotatable cross shaft 58, a bevel gear 59 being keyed to the shaft 58 and meshing with a complementary bevel gear 50 to rotate a stub shaft 5! which is seated in a-bushing 62 and has its upper end extending through a suitable opening in the slide 28 and secured to the transfer plate 22. The motor runs continually thus causing a continuous rotation of the transfer plate, and the cam 53, whichis keyed to the end of the cross shaft 58, actuates the micro-switch 53 periodically, to obtain the desired coin registrae tion. The described construction has the advantage that a very high speed of transfer and registration is obtained, thus eliminating slowing up of fare collecting and increasing the speed of bus and trolley travel.

The by-pass construction The apparatus as described above accommodates normal, bent, warped and thin coins, as the micro-switch 29 is sensitive and may be set for any desired thickness, whereby it will operate for greater thicknesses, and the spacing of the slide and the display section from the support plate and the lower cover may be made sufficient to accommodate the usual run of coins, but not enough to permit the coins to stack one over another, whereby the displayed coins are always shown edge to edge.

The apparatus is thus rugged and not easy to put out of order, but occasions may arise whereby a jamming or a short circuit does occur, in which case I have provided a by-pass arrangement to automatically transfer deposited coins directly to an auxiliary coin box.

Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, a solenoid 53 is mounted in the frame l2 adjacent the hopper, and includes a plunger 54 normally held outwardly by a compression spring 62, an arm 66 extending from the plunger end and being setimed to the by-pass slide I 8, see Fig. 8. The by-pass slide has side walls 61, 68 guided between uprights 69, 10, see Fig. 11, and slides over a partition plate H, see Fig. 4, suitably supported by the frame l2, and having an opening 12 therethrough.

The by-pass slide l8 has a rear baffle 12 oppositely directed to the normal coin baflle l9, whereby movement of the slide I8 shifts the baflie 12 directly under the funnel opening I"! of the hopper to direct deposited coins into a by-pass chute l3 and into a lock box '14, see Fig. 11, the lock box having a lock handle 15 which may be opened at the bus or trolley office.

The shifting of the by-pass slide I8 is accomplished by using electrical wiring 10, see Fig. 6, connected to the operating mechanism wiring, the current passing through the motor 55a in parallel with the solenoid, and a normally closed thermostat snap disk Ti being inserted in the series line, whereby the operating current normally holds the plunger 64 inwardly, but any jamming causes the thermostat disk to heat up and snap open, whereby the circuit is broken and the spring 65 then moves the slide 18 to close the transfer chamber and open the entrance to the by-pass chute. The thermostat disk is preferably manually re-set when the apparatus is repaired.

The apparatus is thus of simple and rugged construction, and receives deposited coins in a hopper, transfers the coins individually to a display chamber and registers the coins during their transfer, any inoperativeness of the mechanism causing the deposited coins to by-pass into a locked auxiliary coin box.

While I have described a specific constructional embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape, and arrangement of the parts may be made to meet different requirements for coin collecting and registering, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a coin collector, a transfer chamber for receiving deposited coins, said transfer chamber having a movable plate provided with a coin transfer recess, a coin receiving chamber, means for moving said plate to selectively pick up a coin in said transfer recess and transfer the coin to the coin receiving chamber, and means for registering each coin during the plate movement, said registering means including a register circuit having two sets of electrical contacts in series, means for closing one set of contacts through a coin in the transfer recess, and means for periodically closing the other set for the time interval when the first set of contacts is closable through said coin whereby the register is actuated only when a, coin is being transferred.

2. In a coin collector, a transfer chamber for receiving deposited coins, said transfer chamber having a rotatable plate provided with a coin transfer recess, a coin receiving chamber, means for rotating said plate to selectively pick up a coin in said transfer recess and transfer the coin to the coin receiving chamber, and means for registering each coin during the plate movement, said registering means including a register circuit having two sets of electrical contacts in series, means for closing one set of contacts through a coin in the transfer recess, and means for periodically closing the other set for the time interval when the first set of contacts is closable through said coin, whereby the register is actuated only when a coin is being transferred.

JOHN F. CAVANAGH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 914,821 Gierding Mar. 9, 1909 917,834 Adams Apr. 13, 1909 1,096,171 Johnson May 12, 1914 1,114,851 Branham Oct. 27, 1914 1,210,732 Voglesong June 2, 1917 1,287,025 Huddle Dec. 10, 1918 1,355,873 Whistler Oct. 19, 1920 1,634,441 Baur July 5, 1927 1,932,014 Frankford Oct. 24, 1933 2,075,989 Jonneret et al. Apr. 6, 1937 2,338,575 Daugherty Jan. 4, 1944 2,352,846 Marchioni et a1. July 4, 1944 

